Zarka'il
(NOTE: The full content of this entry is yet to be updated/written) Zarka'il is an original Character/Duelist created by WeinbergEnte during October 2017, Season 3. Appearance Zarka'il is a 2,25 meter (7,38 feet) tall and 400 kilograms (~880 pounds) heavy, uncommonly and unnaturally muscular, massively built man. He appears to have absolutely pale/greyish, cold looking skin, small red irises, a rather large mouth (with an even larger grin) with sharp teeth, long, rough and spiky hair and pointy ears. A long scar is dragged across the right side of his face, while there is a black mark around his right eye, that resembles 4 curved thorns/spikes. He can often be seen carrying his mace on his shoulder. His current outfit consists of a dark cape with segmented, slightly triangular hardened leather pauldrons and a chain fixed to it, a red tank top beneath, red bandages around his forearms, fingertip-less dark grey gloves with short metal spikes on their knuckles, red leather goth pants with several belts and black leather shoes. In his earliest visualizations (during the end of October 2017), he first only appeared as a dark grey stickman with red eyes, spiky black hair and a large cutlass. When the stickman appearance got replaced with an actual body, Zarka'ils massive structure was seen for the first time, apart from non-used, requested references of [SoundOfSpeed]. At that time, he wore metal plated pantaloons and red, tattered hood, together with a white wooden mask, which had a large engraved grin on it. Apart from that, his cutlass was reworked into an even larger, dark greatsword with a red glow in its center. Later, a reference of Zarka'il, before he turned massive, was created. It showed a much smaller and thinner man with overall brown color for his hair, eyes, and outfit, which was a leather trenchcoat, simple cloth pants, and metal plated boots. At this point in time, this visualization of early Zarka'il is not approved by its creator. Currently, parts of the design, mainly the oddly shaped pauldrons, are stated to be unpractical and unenjoyable to draw by their creator, hence a rework of Zarka'ils overall clothing is in progress and will most likely be used in the next started duel. As of now, the yet un-reworked outfit (featuring the pauldrons) is being used in the duel "Pierre vs Zarka'il". Backstory/Biography Birth and Childhood: Zarka'il was born in a small and simple structured village near Bahp Town. He earned most of his early experience from his parents by getting taught valuable advice and lessons for his everyday life because schools weren't entirely established in the village he lived in for the longest time. His father taught him simple craftsman work as well as dealing with knives and other blades, while his mother taught Zarka'il more theoretical knowledge. Adulthood beginning: As Zarka'il turned 18, he decided to explore the world and its aspects on his own. His parents accepted his leave and let him travel to a city nearer to Highgate Landing, where Zarka'il intended to collect experience about the city life. Adulthood in Highgate: Zarka'il was able to pay his simple apartment by assisting a butcher, due to his skills in handling blades. During this time of only a few weeks, Zarka'il was not able to build up any friendships inside of the town before he got recognized by a cult syndicate that acted in secrecy and concealment. The syndicate picked out Zarka'il as a new member due to him being new in the city and not knowing a lot of people, as well as his skills with blades. When he went home from work one day, the syndicate 'kidnapped' him with the threat of harming his parents. Due to Zarka'il believing this, he accepted to work for the cult and carried out the given criminal tasks. Life in the syndicate and change: Zarka'il carried out tasks such as stealing, headhunting, human trafficking, blackmailing, interrogation dealing, guarding, but also participating in the rituals of the cult, which included torturing and also killing innocent victims as a sacrifice for a superstitious reunition of the seraph world and culture. Zarka'il turned cold and numb from these brutal tasks, however, in the back of his mind he held back a great rejection towards everything he was doing. When Zarka'il was one day ordered to both torture and kill a young boy and his mother, his inner rejection and hatred reached a climax, which he didn't show to the other members, however. Encounter with Nuhidor: ''' Zarka'il was desperate to find ways to atone for his criminal activities. One day, he has been given an ancient shard by one of the syndicate's members, with the task to discard it. An unusual but positive feeling that Zarka'il felt when touching the shard (Due to Nuhidors presence inside of the shard) led him to not discard it the day he got it. When he slept and fell asleep that day, his consciousness landed inside of Nuhidors mental dimension, where Zarka'il then accepted Nuhidors offer to be used as a catalyst for Nuhidors powers. Zarka'il accepted the offer because of his desperate search for ways to atone. After he accepted, he became Nuhidors new catalyst and woke up and got turned into Nuhidors race, in order to have a greater potency for Nuhidors magic. Zarka'il silently left the cult's facility and got directed to a cave near the town. Inside this cave, Nuhidor created a shrine to make Zarka take part in the 'ritual' that turned him into the massive man he is today. With new and great powers, he headed back to the cult and killed every single member, which were the first steps in his mission he calls 'The Path'. '''Initiation of the Path: ' '''Once Zarka'il killed the complete cult with his newly gained powers, he compulsively and obsessively believed that only the eradication of all intensely criminal people would bring him atonement. Zarka'il thought if he stopped malice to exist, it must be the one and only way to atone for the sins he committed earlier. In his belief, the completion of this mission is the most gallant and good-hearted action an individual could have ever done. In order to succeed in this path, Zarka'il quickly developed subliminal greed for more and more power. He wants to become and stay unsurpassed by anyone who tries to face him. '''Ongoing life to today:' ' '''After his Path has been initiated, he traveled across Cier, being driven by his master Nuhidor with the constant promise of more power, while resting in various villages and towns during this time. Moreover, he also developed more powers besides his super strength, such as the detachment of his soul/consciousness, delaying the impact of his hand, draining power and copying knowledge of others into his mind. Nuhidors current quest for Zarka is to try and retrieve information about how his original race, the seraphs, have disappeared in the course of the ancient war. topic is further shown in Pierre vs Zarka'il '''The Syndicate' The cult that forced Zarka'il to work for it was further explained fundamentally based on the ancient seraph world and culture, of which artifacts and other various relics are spread across Cier to this day. The Syndicate falsely believed that it could reintroduce and restore elements of the seraph world with the help of these artifacts, which could potentially contain remaining old energy, combined with numerous sacrifices. These sacrifices were done with the intent to let the victims souls wander into the artifacts to furthermore trigger/initiate a possible effect. In order to retrieve several artifacts, the syndicate worked together with a nearby, corrupt branch of an excavation company that had its focus on Seraph culture. For various criminal tasks (part of what Zarka'il was ordered to do) and/or currency, the corrupt team contributed their nicked foundings to the cult. Further meaning of 'The Path' Because Zarka'il was desperately searching for a way to make amends for his sins, his encounter with Nuhidor and later retrieval of power motivated him to initiate a single and only mission for his life, which he called 'The Path'. He called it that way because he sees his task as a path that he walks until he reaches the very goal, and its essence is to exterminate all maliceful individuals in the world (Cier). (As stated in the biography before) Zarka'il obsessively believes that the erasure of all these beings has to be the greatest and most gallant deed an individual could have ever done before, which is why nothing in his life has greater importance than The Path. Being motivated by this mission, Zarka'il became avaricious for power and gaining more power, with the intention to inevitably succeed in his mission and not be surpassed by anyone in his way. He represses and refuses to think about the thought that he is greedy for more might since he believes it is a logical mindset and behavior for someone who's mission is The Path. If he strongly believes it will help him to come further in his mission, Zarka'il is willing to do daring, almost unreasonable actions, with having only his inner idea of justice holding him back on certain doings. Powers and Weapons Large Mace Zarka'ils mace (~2,30 meters/ 7,54 ft. tall and 125 kg/~275 lbs. heavy) is essentially made of solid, durable, hardened steel, features a very long grip and blades attached to the head of the mace. Because it has been furthermore compressed by Nuhidor, the mace has even greater durability than usually hardened steel. Zarka'il uses this mace most of the time in battle and together with the force he uses, it can easily crush bones and armor. Although being considerably durable, the mace can be demolished/broken with enough force. Source of powers: ' Zarka'il gained all his Powers from Nuhidor, during the course of being his catalyst. Back when Nuhidor spent his time during the times of the ancient war, he acted as an enchanter and 'ability blacksmith' for his seraph allies. Due to an accident that included a few spells and a shard, he has been trapped inside of the shard with however unfathomable powers. Nuhidor has little to no possibility to act outside of his mental world other than through Zarka'il (which is a reason Zarka'il as a catalyst is extremely important to him). '''Ancient Inheritance: ' Since Nuhidor Exists inside of a mental dimension in Zarka'ils consciousness/mind, he can ensure that no kind of mental side effect or manipulation (such as mind reading, mind/brain controlling, insanity-causing effects etc.) effect Zarka'il/Zarkas mind and brain. Furthermore, when Zarka'il falls asleep, he will never dream, and instead always find himself back in Nuhidors mental dimension, together with Nuhidor. (Inside of this dimension, the feeling of time is slightly distorted, while the time in reality actually progresses faster than inside of the dimension). Possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il could read books similar to the Necronomicon, retrieve their information and get away with it without turning insane or being overwhelmed by unimaginable information. -Zarka'il would not be deceived by any kind of mentality-based hallucinations (however if these illusions are created within the material world without having to effect Zarka'ils brain, they won't be negated. ) 'Supernatural Physical Strength: ' Zarka'ils first given power was his Supernatural Physical Strength, which formed him into a massively muscular colossus. This supernatural strength is mainly based on his muscular mass, hence it greatly increased the efficiency and partially also the durability of all of his muscles. Furthermore, to compensate for his extreme lifting capabilities, his bones have become enormously durable, enabling him to avoid a lot of potential fractures. His current limit for lifting (without having drained any muscular mass from others) is roughly at about ~800 tons (a fully loaded ultra class haul truck). Technically, regarding that about 45-50% of Zarka'ils body is skeletal muscle mass (~200 kilo/440 pounds), it could be calculated that Zarka'il is able to lift about ~4 tons per kilogram of muscle. '''Possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il can easily lift, throw, crush or even fold average cars. -Also (average) trucks are easy for him to lift up and throw. -His extreme leg muscles allow him to leap up to ~150 meters far. -His attacks can easily burst open metal doors and skulls, and he could generally pulverize bones with enough force. -Furthermore, his attacks are very hard to block by normal means. Organic and magic drain: (Also known as 'Voracious Grasp') (organic part) Zarka'il can (decide to) drain muscular mass, calcium, and proteins from any organic being he touches. It takes a few seconds longer to drain the maximal possible amount of these organic portions, which is not more than about a quarter of what the victim owns. The drained portions are not actually directly given to Zarka'ils body, instead, they increase for the amount that has been taken from the victim. The victim will regain the stolen proteins, calcium and muscular mass after about ~3-4 seconds, will however be somewhat weakened after these organic portions have been drained. To compensate for the additional growth in mass, Zarka'ils body will proportionally grow. This often causes his clothes to be stretched even further, and a too intense growth can (partially) rip them. Possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il can weaken duelists (that are usually strong) while retrieving additional strength himself (however, only against organic beings). -Zarka'il can potentially even drain massively large animals and grow a lot more than usual. (magic part) In order to activate and fuel his abilities (Detachment and Delayed Impact), Zarka'il also drains magical potency incidentally. This magical potency is processed by Nuhidor to act as activation and fuel for Zarka'ils abilities. Magical potency can be drained from any individual, as there (normally) is always the possibility and potency for these to learn or gain magic. Individuals that generally use magic will have slightly weakened spells after Zarka'il drained their magical potency, which will also only last for a few seconds. Depending on what ability Zarka'il uses, the magical potency will be used up in differentiating portions. Possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il generally has to drain his opponents to activate his abilities in any way. -Various offensive spells (of the opponent) (such as magical bolts, element-based projectiles, etc.) appear as a weaker version (less damage/impact/size) shortly after being drained by Zarka'il. -Various defensive spells (of the opponent) (such as healing spells, barriers, etc) can appear to be less effective for the user (less durability for barriers, less significant healing from healing spells, etc) shortly after being drained by Zarka'il. (mental part) '''Once Zarka'il starts to drain the victim, he also gives Nuhidor access to their mind(/soul), enabling Nuhidor to copy their knowledge and memories into Zarka'ils mind. Depending on how long Zarka'il drains, this knowledge can stretch from simply names, usual behavior patterns or early memories to more thorough information such as long-term earned memories/old memories, entire personalities or train of thoughts. Zarka'il can not directly use the skills of his victims that he gained information from (unless they're very simple) but will have a broader spectrum of ideas and techniques regarding these skills and learned abilities. '''Possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il can learn about the plans of the opponent. -It enables Zarka'il to possibly gain information that was refused to be told. -It allows him to generally carry a lot of knowledge with him. (Activation of Abilities): ''' The following abilities will be unlocked once Zarka drains (enough) magical potency: '''Rejection of needs: Once Zarka has started to drain magical potency (for only a few seconds), a biological (but magically driven) process inside of his body will be initiated, which ensures, that he does not have to consume any food or beverage and does not have to sleep, lasting for about 3-4 days. During this time, he not only doesn't require these needs but is also unable to pursue them, because his body will reject it. Any food or drink Zarka'il consumes (in a usual way) during this time will be instantly discharged. Other than that he will also stay perfectly awake. After the rejection of needs has worn off, Zarka'il will slowly begin to feel these needs again. This ability does not cost Zarka any drained magical potency. possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il can travel permanently at night and day, without having to pause for eating, drinking or sleeping. -Because his resources (food and drink), as well as his alertness, will stay constantly replenished, it takes Zarka only a little time to gain back his stamina after being exhausted. Detachment of consciousness: (Also known as 'Menacing Detachment') ''' Activating this ability will put Zarka'ils physical body into a stasis (during which he can still normally stand upright, keep his eyes open and talk) because he detaches his consciousness/soul(which is indicated by a strong glow around the edges of his irises). Once he did that, he is able to walk (and only walk) around with it on/in a non-material/non-physical level (meaning it can not be seen by normal means in the physical world, while Zarka'il is not able to interact with anything other than walking on the ground and being restricted by walls). Inside of this nonphysical level, his consciousness can not travel further than about 10 meters. If he decides to shift back into the physical world, his physical body will scurry to the position his consciousness was last at in the blink of an eye. During this movement, his body does not directly interact with anything physical while appearing to quickly and unnaturally twitch and twist around. This includes everything he is wearing and carrying, meaning also his mace will move in the same way. Other than moving to a new position, Zarka'il can also be interrupted from the detachment and forced to shift back into the physical world without having moved anywhere, once his body gets significantly moved while in stasis. He can also decide to interrupt the detachment himself by deciding so, but this will take roughly 2 seconds. This ability costs ~half of his (max.) drained magic potency. '''possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il can quickly move to different positions without being seen (most of the time) -He can use this to move away from danger, deceive his opponents or close gaps between them and pose a greater threat. -While moving his consciousness, he can possibly look around corners/investigate other nearby regions without moving his actual body. Delayed impact: (Also known as 'Impending Impact') Zarka'il charges his hand/s (or fist/s) with magic potency; The impact he will then exert onto an object or being with his hand/s (e.g. pressing, punching, clapping/slapping etc.) will then stay frozen at the position of the strike/touch until Zarka'il reactivates the ability. He does so by making a hand gesture: An inwards angled thumb, the index finger laid onto it and all other fingers stretched out. Once he performed the hand gesture (which can be done with either hand), the impact he exerted before will then be unfrozen and occurs at the original position of strike/touch. If he does not reinitiate the ability within ~2 minutes, the impact will simply disappear. If he is unable to do the hand gesture because of any possible reason, Zarka'il will not be able to activate the ability again. It is possible to strike multiple times while using this ability before triggering it since it costs ~a quarter of his (max) drained magic potency. possible scenarios/uses: -Zarka'il can trick opponents and strike them by surprise. -The frozen impact(s) can potentially be stacked at the same position to build up an extremely devastating strike. -Possible 'traps' could be set in the environment (e.g. bridges, staircases, various riskful environments) Strengths and Weaknesses: Strengths: Physical strength: Zarka'ils massive physical strength enables him to cause devastating damage (mostly in close range). Blocking his attacks is often futile unless the blocking individual has similarly extreme physical strength. The other way around, getting parried by Zarka'il can result in being disarmed, thrown away or both. Apart from that, he can easily exert immense amounts of impact, even against armored targets, making their armor partially futile as well. Durability: Since Zarka'ils bones are greatly durable and his muscles are comparably tough, he is able to withstand a relatively big amount of damage, to be exact, impactful damage (e.g. punches, dull weapons etc.). This also enables him to resist falling from higher places (3-4 story buildings, short cliffs, etc.) with relative ease. In addition to that, his tough muscles are somewhat harder to pierce/cut (blade attacks, small bullets, etc). Lastly, his slight pain resistance (coming from his earlier rituals, which always involved heavy pain) adds up to his durability. Knowledge: Even though his appearance could be contradicting to it, Zarka'il is rather smart/wise. However, this is not the main aspect of what makes his mind/knowledge significant in battle. Moreover, it is his retrieval of power (by draining his opponents) within the battle that can turn him into a great threat. Zarka'il can find out essential information about the opponent, let it be relevant for the fight itself (fighting patterns, moves, abilities etc.) or aggrieve and negatively surprise them with information that is very meaningful to the opponent (fears, traumatic experiences, PTSD etc.). This partially enables him to even potentially foretell possible actions and act against those. Essentially, after Zarka'il thoroughly drained the opponent, they become an 'open book' for him. Specific mobility: Zarka'ils highly efficient muscles enable him to leap/jump quite extreme distances, which makes it possible for him to either move away from danger or close up gaps between him and his opponent quickly. Other than that, if the opponent tries to escape (without supernatural speed), he will most likely be caught up by Zarka'il, since he can run comparably fast regarding his size. Obsessive determination: '''It is not the main aspect of what makes Zarka'il strong, but plays a significant role regarding his effort and performance in battle. He always fights with 'The Path' in the back of his mind, something that makes him almost unable to surrender in any circumstance. If his chances of winning are getting lower and lower, he is capable of almost carelessly using as much brutality and aggression as possible, making him even accept the greatest pain. '''Weaknesses: Massiveness/Slowness: '''Compared to most other humanoid beings, Zarka'ils body is extremely bulky and massive, which comes with certain disadvantages, the mildest of them being that he has difficulties to step inside/through smaller places (doorframes, cars, buses, etc.). Moreover, his massive body makes him comparably unagile and slow in certain situations and during fights (disregarding his jumping and running speed) and enables others to hit him easier, since he is a big target. Because of this, duelists with far greater speed than him are able to counter him more often. '''Limitation/Fighting Range: '''Before Zarka'il drained his opponent, his abilities stay locked and his knowledge about the opponent is very limited. This leaves him to fight with his extreme strength in melee range, which can be partially countered with enough speed and ranged attacks, which he cannot block very effectively. With the abilities staying locked, he can also not trick or outplay his enemies if really necessary. '''Overconfidence/Temperament: '''Zarka'il is very confident in his capabilities, hence, before having learned more about his opponent by draining, he will approach them overconfidently, which will cause him to make possible mistakes and risks. Furthermore, he will get aggressive really quickly when his methods in battle turn out to not be very useful (opponent repeatedly dodges, (somehow)blocks attacks, tricks, etc.). If Zarka'il becomes aggressive he will partially ignore logical thinking and planning, which makes it easier for the opponent to fight against him. '''Personality: During the time in the syndicate, Zarka'il turned very cold and numb from all the brutal criminal activities he accepted to do. This bleakness is still present today and stays in a constant state because Zarka'il partially refuses to act more emotionally, figuring that it makes sense to act more rationally in his mission. He has become entirely distanced to love or warmth (can however force himself to act minimally warmer when needed in a specific situation), especially to relationships, thinking they would only let 'The Path' stagnate and waste time. Whenever Zarka'il appears to be happy, it is mostly because of either further success (especially gaining more power) in his quest or the suffering of his opponents in any way, which can often indicate his excessive sadism. Mostly Zarka'il only turns very sadistic when he inflicts pain to someone he truly believes to be maliceful, which leads him to fight very joyful and morbidly. This is often displayed by him making his unnaturally large grin and revealing his sharp teeth, which he also is used to doing when he is certain of surpassing and/or outplaying the opponent. Even though Zarka'il can act very morbidly, he highly appreciates telling the truth and truth in general. The other way around, he despises lying and spreading severe rumors, because lies can change someone's mind in negative ways and hide the actual facts and truth. This comes with his heavy sense for justice, that lets him act (or at least try to act) fairly and justiceful towards all innocents. Because of this, he has a bad notion for collateral damage (inside cities/villages) in the back of his mind. Zarka'il is somewhat biased regarding thinking about his past and his greed for power. Whenever someone mentions anything regarding his past, he refuses to think about it and always tries to put 'The Path' into the focus of the conversation. The more people try forcing him to talk about his past or greed for power, he gets more and more irritated until he feels that his mission has been offended in any way, causing him to become offensive himself (both verbally and possibly also physically). Zarka'ils greatest dream and wish is to succeed in his quest, 'The Path', which, along with its gospels, he values above everything else in existence. Whenever he does not have to take a pause, all his actions are directed towards his mission. If necessary, he is willing to do the most outrageous doings, as long as he believes it is for the good of his mission. Category:Duelist Category:Active